Community Perspectives

SCENIC Expands Rural Impact at Trinidad Water Festival

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 13:00:00 +0000

SCENIC Expands Rural Impact at Trinidad Water Festival Arielle Wiedenbeck Thu, 08/28/2025 - 07:00

Arielle Wiedenbeck

Last May, ��’s Science‑Engineering Inquiry Collaborative in Rural Colorado (SCENIC) program brought its hands‑on, inquiry‑based science programming to the Trinidad Water Festival. Led by Associate Research Professor Daniel Knight, �� students created an erosion‑focused activity that allowed K‑12 participants to learn about flooding.

The SCENIC program connects �� faculty members and students with rural high schools across Colorado to develop locally relevant science projects. This year’s participation in the water festival was made possible through Knight’s involvement in the PACES 2024 Community Perspectives Tour, where he connected with Linda Perry, a festival organizer.

The Trinidad Water Festival, hosted annually by Trinidad State College, drew more than 1,300 students and teacher attendees this year, with most from schools in Las Animas County and nearby communities in Colorado and New Mexico. Organized with the help of a handful of event leads and about 15 volunteers, the festival included activities from a diverse range of participants including the US Forest Service, a local fly tier and even a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator.

An example of a miniature homestead built by an elementary school participant.

To align with the festival’s focus on water, the SCENIC team adapted an existing module from their Soil Quality Inquiry programming into an “erosion challenge.” Using soil, rocks and legos, K-12 participants designed miniature homesteads and tested how they held up under simulated flood conditions. The activity encouraged students to think critically about how environmental engineering plays a role in protecting communities — especially Trinidad, which is prone to flash flooding due to its location along the Purgatory River.

Percy Smith, a PhD candidate specializing in engineering ethics education, led the activity alongside two other students from the Hannigan Air Quality and Technology Lab, Gabriela Cortes and Julia Harper.

“I hadn’t worked with elementary school kids in a science context before,” Smith said. “They had these really cool projects, and they were all very excited. A couple of them said it was their favorite [activity].”

Reflecting on the experience, Smith emphasized the importance of transferring knowledge beyond the university. “To be able to take [��] students into communities and say, ‘OK, now you have to explain this concept not just to me, but also to the students who don’t have any background,’ it makes your understanding stronger and builds awareness of the work you’re doing.”

Bob Philibin, a longtime recruiter for the festival, said involving college students enriches the experience for everyone involved. “I hung out with them for one of their sessions, and the [�� students] were totally engaged,” he said. “They looked like they were having a really good time…that’s what we want.”

For SCENIC, the water festival helped deepen community ties. Knight said the team was able to establish a new relationship with a teacher in Yuma and is continuing to explore expansion into additional rural regions, such as Gunnison. He also hopes to return to the Water Festival next year.

For Smith, these experiences serve as an important reminder that “these are the people that are impacted by the work we’re doing.”

The SCENIC program is funded in part by the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship. Learn more about the Community Perspectives program.

Engineering students with the Science Engineering Inquiry Collaborative in Rural Colorado (SCENIC) program developed a hands-on “erosion challenge” for K-12 students to learn about the effects of flash flooding on infrastructure.

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Julia Harper sets up SCENIC's "erosion challenge" at the 2025 Trinidad Water Festival in Trinidad, CO.

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�� undergraduate Julia Harper sets up SCENIC's "erosion challenge" at the 2025 Water Festival in Trinidad, CO

The 2024-25 Community Perspectives Faculty Cohort

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 16:53:43 +0000

The 2024-25 Community Perspectives Faculty Cohort Arielle Wiedenbeck Mon, 08/26/2024 - 10:53

Gretchen Minekime

What comes of five �� faculty members and the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) team visiting Southeast Colorado for three days? A lot of fun and a bunch of brains overwhelmed with information and ideas—that’s what!

The second Community Perspectives Faculty Cohort joined PACES for June meetings in Pueblo, La Junta and Trinidad. Forty-one community members accepted invitations to consult with faculty members and to learn more about how PACES can help connect �� resources with community needs and opportunities. Those in attendance were invited specifically because their community role relates to the expertise of at least one of the cohort members. And, cohort members were selected for the program because their expertise matches community issues learned about during and after the June 2022 Community Perspectives tour.

Cohort members also learned more generally about the communities visited with tours of the El Pueblo Museum and the Ethos Creative Community Space in Pueblo, the Klein Makerspace and Otero College campus in La Junta, and the Trinidad History Museum and a Space to Create in Trinidad.

Faculty members continue to be in touch with the people they met to explore potential partnerships for engaged scholarship. PACES will provide seed funding to cohort members who establish partnerships and launch projects.

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Five faculty members selected for Community Perspectives Program

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 19:08:41 +0000

Five faculty members selected for Community Perspectives Program Arielle Wiedenbeck Thu, 01/25/2024 - 12:08

Gretchen Minekime

Five �� faculty members have been selected to join the Office for Outreach and Engagement’s Community Perspectives program—a professional development program offering each cohort the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and skills as publicly and community-engaged scholars.

2024 Cohort
Bethy Leonardi, Associate Professor and Co-director, A QUEER ENDEAVOR
Natalie Ooi, Teaching Associate Professor, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Benét Duncan, Research Associate and Managing Director, WESTERN WATER ASSESSMENT
Leilani Arthurs, Associate Professor, GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Daniel Knight, Associate Research Professor, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

This semester the new cohort will participate in on-campus workshops about public and community-engaged scholarship and be able to attend Campus Compact’s annual conference in Denver. In June, the cohort and Office for Outreach and Engagement staff members will travel to Pueblo, Trinidad and La Junta to explore project ideas with community members identified through the June 2022 tour’s listening sessions. Afterwards, faculty members will be able to apply for project seed funding and access support from the office about partnership and project development.

“We know many faculty members are interested in developing work in Pueblo and rural areas in Southeast Colorado. Community Perspectives helps to introduce our faculty to places and people, while also providing support about best practices of engaged scholarship,” said Associate Director Jeanne McDonald. “Our office’s team and the first cohort have been building relationships in this part of Colorado, and we hope those efforts enable the second cohort to further deepen connections to ��.”

Community Perspectives was developed by the Office for Outreach and Engagement, in collaboration with the Office of Faculty Affairs.

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Faculty Tour of Southern Colorado Sparks New Connections

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 18:52:51 +0000

Faculty Tour of Southern Colorado Sparks New Connections Arielle Wiedenbeck Mon, 08/08/2022 - 12:52

Gretchen Minekime

Twelve �� colleagues boarded a small bus bound for Pueblo, La Junta, Trinidad and Walsenburg. It was one of this summer’s first sweltering days. There had been a last-minute driver change, and everyone started joking about the trip’s auspicious beginning when the bus door wouldn’t close properly. Despite the hiccups, excitement was in the air as everyone settled in. The inaugural Community Perspectives Tour had begun. The mission: Meet local leaders and learn about community-led efforts to address opportunities and challenges in Colorado communities beyond the Front Range and, in turn, share what expertise and tools �� might bring to the table.

The faculty members in the Community Perspectives Cohort and the Office for Outreach and Engagement staffwere aware that listen-and-learn tours are sometimes, and understandably, met with skepticism. Those being “listened to” often report disbelief that “the listeners” will take any demonstrable action. Everyone knew the message needed to be precise: Planned meetings were to be initial conversations, with the hope that introductions could develop into long-standing partnerships in Pueblo, La Junta, Trinidad and Walsenburg.

Community-engaged scholarship (research, teaching or creative work) is usually about the long game. It takes time and intention to build relationships, identify common goals and build working partnerships rooted in trust. Community members were hopefully going to lean into this relationship-oriented approach.

Between June 8-10, the group met with 51 community leaders and visited local organizations and landmarks, including Watertower Place, the Steelworks Center of the West, and the Pueblo Levee Mural Project in Pueblo; Otero State College in La Junta; a local acequia (a shared irrigation ditch or canal) and Art Cartopia in Trinidad; and the Museum of Friends in Walsenburg. The group encountered skepticism but also found many community representatives were eager to explore potential partnerships with cohort members and others from ��. Staff and faculty members from other colleges and universities were among the most receptive.

After three incredibly full days, the group boarded the bus for home. Contemplation was in the air this time. Across all the sessions, residents had discussed significant housing and healthcare challenges and struggles to compete with Front Range communities for needed funding and resources. Residents had also voiced pride about their communities’ strength, resilience and resolve. During the drive home, cohort members’ questions were clear, if not easily answered: How could they translate what they’d heard about incredibly complex and systemic issues into meaningful action? What should the next steps be for fostering partnerships and leveraging university expertise?

For some of the cohort members, the questions themselves have since contributed to new perspectives about their scholarly work and the role of �� in Colorado.

“I was really taken by how our trip helped me to understand better how, as a faculty member at Colorado’s flagship institution, I might better understand and utilize opportunities to serve residents of our state more effectively,” said Steve Lamos, associate professor in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric and the Department of English.

Some members have gone back to their departments to explore how their and other colleagues’ expertise might support solutions to the challenges raised. Others have continued dialoguing with community members to learn more and develop plans. The Office for Outreach and Engagement team will continue to support the faculty as they concretize projects, as well as look more broadly across campus to academic departments and programs that might also help address the identified needs.

Each faculty member is now eligible for a seed grant to develop an outreach or engagement project with one or more of the communities visited. Excitement still surrounds conversations among cohort and staff members, but so does the awareness that embarking on community-engaged scholarship takes a significant investment of time and trust-building.The success of the work boils down to the success of the relationships involved, but the payoffs change lives.

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Announcing the Inaugural Community Perspectives Faculty Cohort

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 20:55:46 +0000

Announcing the Inaugural Community Perspectives Faculty Cohort Arielle Wiedenbeck Wed, 10/27/2021 - 14:55

Gretchen Minekime

The Office for Outreach and Engagement is pleased to announce the inaugural Community Perspectives Faculty Cohort.

Steven Joseph Lamos, Interim Director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric and Associate Professor of English
Gregor MacGregor, Research Fellow and Acequia Assistance Project Director, Colorado Law
Will Medlin, Chair and Denver Business Challenge Endowed Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Joseph Ryan, Professor of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, Environmental Engineering Program
Vandna Sinha, Associate Research Professor, School of Education
Tin Tin Su, Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

Community Perspectives is a new program engaging �� faculty members in a one-year professional development opportunity aimed at connecting their teaching, research and creative work to outreach and engagement initiatives with rural Colorado communities.

In addition to attending several workshops throughout the year, to gain a greater understanding of community engagement and partnership development, the cohort will participate in a three-day tour (June 2022) of Southern Colorado communities including Pueblo, Trinidad, La Junta and Walsenburg. The tour will provide an opportunity to gain a better understanding of these areas of Colorado and their residents, increase awareness of �� outreach and engagement efforts, and create partnerships and programs to address the needs of the communities visited.

The program is sponsored by the Office for Outreach and Engagement and was developed with support from the Office of Faculty Affairs.

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Community Perspectives Program Call for Applications

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 21:32:20 +0000

Community Perspectives Program Call for Applications Arielle Wiedenbeck Wed, 08/25/2021 - 15:32

Jeanne McDonald

Are you a faculty member interested in learning more about building partnerships and programs in rural Colorado communities?

Learn more and apply online by September 24 to join the 2021-22 Community Perspectives program, sponsored by the Office for Outreach and Engagement.

This new program will engage a small cohort of �� faculty in a one-year professional development program aimed at connecting their teaching, research and creative work to outreach and engagement initiatives with rural Colorado communities.

Faculty participants will:

Gain a greater understanding of community engagement and partnership development
Participate in a three-day tour of rural communities in Southern Colorado in June 2022
Receive a stipend for their participation
Have the opportunity to apply for seed funding for community-based project collaborations

�� tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty are eligible to apply. Previous outreach and engagement experience is not required. Faculty should have an interest in developing and delivering programming in rural areas of Colorado, as a way of extending their teaching, research and creative work.

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